President Donald Trump made a second visit to Kansas on Sunday with a stop in Salina, part of a last-minute push to boost Republican Sen. Roger Marshall’s reelection campaign in a race that could be critical in deciding control of the U.S. Senate.
Polls show Marshall in a close race with Democratic pastor Adam Hamilton.
Trump started the night by noting he was wrapping up a long string of rallies for Republicans.
“I'm closing it down tonight. This is it. I had to come here to make sure that Roger got elected. I had to do it,” Trump said.
The visit to Kansas was a last-minute event. It was announced, then canceled, before being uncanceled.
“They said to me two days ago, they said, ‘Sir, would it be possible to do a quick little stop in Kansas?’ It's like, oh, great,” Trump said. “You think this stuff is easy, right? Not easy.”
It was the final stage of a full-court press by Republican leaders that has been unheard of in Kansas races for the U.S. Senate. The state hasn’t elected a Democrat since 1932. Vice President JD Vance had also landed in Kansas twice to support Marshall.
Trump repeated his common stump speech points by attacking national Democrats.
But the president also repeatedly noted the nuts and bolts of elections: getting voters to the polls.
“All I'm asking you to do is one thing, get out and vote, because If you do, we're going to have a tremendous success,” Trump said. “I really want you to pretend I'm on the ballot.”
The race has been marked by a flurry of attack ads targeting Marshall suing hundreds of patients from his medical practice over unpaid bills and Hamilton’s handling of alleged abuse at a church camp associated with his congregation.
Marshall also repeated attacks on Hamilton at the event, saying he helped split the United Methodist Church.
Trump went on the attack against Hamilton, repeating Marshall’s point that Hamilton is out of step with Kansans.
“Here in Kansas, you need to defeat the radical left phony running for Senate. The woke pastor named Adam Hamilton,” Trump said.
Trump defended Marshall again over the attacks based on the lawsuits against patients and the 18% interest Marshall charged. Trump repeated an argument that Marshall was required to take legal action against patients who didn’t pay, although The Hill and others have reported that there isn’t a law that required Marshall to sue patients.
“If he didn’t do it, he’d be breaking the law,” Trump said of Marshall’s lawsuits against patients. “He had to do it. He was mandated to do it.”
The same day as the rally, the New York Times reported that Marshall went against advice from his staff and recorded an ad defending his actions targeting OBGYN patients that hadn’t paid their bills.
Marshall was also quick to attack Hamilton while speaking before the president took the stage.
“Adam Hamilton calls himself a uniter, but he was the leading voice that pushed the Methodist Church left until it finally split,” Marshall said.
Kansas News Service reporting found that while Hamilton is influential, church members say he didn’t have an outsized impact on LGBTQ policies that caused some denominations to leave.
The massive ad spending has sent costs spiraling and made this Senate contest the most expensive election in Kansas history.
Marshall also pushed for Republicans to turn out, saying Democrats were motivated and had turned out like “blockbusters.” He said he’d heard from some people that they were mad at disagreements in Washington and weren’t going to vote.
“Listen, your anger doesn’t count unless it’s at the ballot box,” Marshall said.
Hamilton responded to the president’s latest visit with a video making his own final pitch of the campaign, speaking directly to people who had supported Trump in the past or had concerns about the national Democratic Party.
Hamilton said he had voted for Republican President Ronald Reagan in the past, and over time had been a registered Republican, Democrat and independent.
“The person on the ballot has always mattered to me more than the letter after their name. I was looking for competency and character and values,” Hamilton said. “Now I'm not going to Washington to play partisan games. I'm running to be a senator for every Kansan.”
He specifically pointed to rising healthcare costs and the war in Iran’s effect on fuel and fertilizer prices.
“To every Republican who feels Washington has stopped listening and is making life harder: I'd be honored to have your vote,” Hamilton said.
Stephen Koranda is the managing editor of the Kansas News Service.
The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KMUW, KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KRPS and High Plains Public Radio.
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